


Hospital Spinda

by MagicBiscuit



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hospitals, Light-Hearted, third-degree burns hinted at but not directly spoken about
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22558564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicBiscuit/pseuds/MagicBiscuit
Summary: Spinda had always been a wanderer.He toddled along rocky paths and silky smooth beaches. He'd never had a destination, but he always had a goal.That goal was to make others smile.
Relationships: Aogiri | Archie/Matsubusa | Maxie
Comments: 8
Kudos: 52





	Hospital Spinda

Spinda had always been a wanderer.

He toddled along rocky paths and silky smooth beaches. He'd never had a destination, but he always had a goal.

That goal was to make others smile.

Spinda never knew why he found joy in giving other creatures a smile. Maybe it was the way it made their eyes light up. Maybe it was the way their lips curled upwards that made his own do the same. Maybe it was the way the world itself seemed a little brighter when it was filled with smiles. Whatever it was it always made him happy when he managed to cause a smile to appear on another's face.

One day as he was tripping his way down a path, he'd found a large building. Curious, he stepped around it only to find humans scattered around a large patch of grass. There were a couple of Pokémon there as well.

As Spinda made his way over to greet the humans he noticed something strange about the humans themselves. Some had stringshots on their arms or legs, sometimes both. Some looked deathly pale and as he got closer the smell of disease made its way to his snout.

_"Hello"_ he'd said to a Wigglytuff who'd been watching the humans closely. Their ear twitched at the greeting, but they did not turn. _"Who are you?"_ they'd simply replied. Any normal Pokémon would’ve shrunk away from the tone in their voice, but Spinda had never been the brightest creature to walk Hoenn's soil.

He did a little twirl. _"My name is Spinda!"_ he said cheerfully, _"I'm traveller with no destination."_

The Wigglytuff huffed in annoyance. Spinda thought he might have caught them on a bad day. He did another twirl for his dances often made others smile. _"What is this place?"_ he'd asked as he span on the spot, _"why do the humans here smell so funny?"_

Wigglytuff finally turned towards the visitor. Their cheeks puffed up. When Spinda wouldn’t stop spinning Wigglytuff gave him a great big slap.

_"This place"_ Wigglytuff began, _"Is where humans gather their sick ones. Pokémon like you are not welcome here!"_

Spinda sat on the spot he'd been previously spinning, astounded by the anger he'd just been shown. This sounded like just the kind of place Spinda needed to be! He was about to argue as such, but Wigglytuff's dark expression made him reconsider. It was easy to see how much stronger the Wigglytuff was.

Wigglytuff watched as Spinda retreated in to the bushes and once satisfied turned to enter the large building.

Spinda poked his head out of the bush the moment Wigglytuff disappeared. He always wanted to bring more smiles into the world. In his travels he'd learned that it was often the weakest and the sickly that smiled the brightest.

He genuinely believed that the world would be better with those smiles in it.

Spinda looked to the left, then to the right and then to the left again. He saw some humans, but no other Pokémon. With some luck he could sneak past them and go into the building. Giving himself a determined nod Spinda rushed out of the bush, only to trip and roll his way inside the building. He probably looked like a Spheal at play, but no matter.

Spinda brushed himself off. He looked around himself. The inside of the building was whiter than the stones on Slateport's roads. It was slightly unsettling.

Spinda snuck down one of the inside roads. Where was he supposed to go? Where were the sick humans? He wandered and wandered until he suddenly bumped into something large and pink.

_"What are you doing here!?"_

Spinda's head shot up when he heard Wigglytuff's dark tone. They looked ready to blast him all the way to Dewford. With an awkward smile and tiny twirl Spinda turned around and ran for all he was worth.

He heard Wigglytuff's angry shouting not too far behind him and picked up his pace. He ran into all sorts of things, making a terrible racket as he did so. His apologies fell deaf on the ears around him.

He skidded around a corner and noticed a door halfway open. He rushed inside and closed the door with a slam. He stood in place for a few moments. His heart was pounding widely in his chest. Spinda twitched his ears, trying to hear if Wigglytuff was nearby. He sighed with relief once he confirmed with himself that he couldn't hear anything of the sort.

In fact there was hardly any noise at all.

Aside from the boxes that said "bleep" with regular intervals it was silent.

Spinda toddled over to an elevated box. He could see glimpses of a stringshot at its edge. He looked up at the box. There was an ever so slight bit of movement.

Maybe it was a human?

Spinda was curious now. He jumped towards the elevated box, but to no avail. He tried and failed again. He puffed up his cheeks in frustration as he tried one more time. This time he managed to grab onto the very edge of the box with his paws. Using all the strength nature had gifted him with Spinda pulled himself upwards and onto the box.

Spinda smiled triumphantly to himself. He could be strong if he needed to be! Feeling mighty proud of himself he turned his attention to the other creature on top of the box.

Spinda's entire body turned cold.

It was an average sized human. They had strongshots covering half their face as well as their left arm. The stringshot he'd seen from the ground, Spinda realised. The human was deathly pale.

Slowly Spinda approached the human. Their visible eye was closed. Maybe they were asleep?

Spinda sat down on their stomach and rose and fell with the human's breathing. This looked like exactly the kind of human that need some company. There was something inherently sad about them that Spinda couldn't place. The cold room seemed so dreadfully lonely.

Just as that thought crossed Spinda's mind the human groaned and slowly, but surely the visible eye flickered open.

Spinda sat quietly as the dark, bleary eye slowly moved around the room. Eventually it landed on Spinda. For a moment they simply looked at one another until the human's mouth moved. What came out was probably one of the ugliest sounds Spinda had ever heard. The only thing that came close to it was the dying gurgles of a Pokémon he'd heard in the distance a long, long time ago.

Spinda rose from his place and waddled over to the human. He sat down right next to the healthy part of the human's face. Spinda wanted to make the people here smile, but wasn't quite sure of how to go about it with this one.

Suddenly the door burst open and a human alongside Wigglytuff came inside. Spinda tried his best to hide behind the sick human's red hair, but it was to no avail. Wigglytuff noticed him right away. They stomped on over to him. With a glare they lifted Spinda up with Psychic and threw him out the open window.

Drat.

Spinda sighed as he brushed himself off again. He'd been lucky enough to land on a bush, but that was a minor victory.

How was he going to make that human smile now?

Spinda looked up at the window he'd just been chucked out of. It wasn't like he'd memorised the way to that cold room when he ran around like mad.

Spinda looked towards the mountains. The sun was beginning to set. He may be able to come back tomorrow and try again.

Which is exactly what he did.

The following day Spinda was already back. He snuck his way past the humans and Pokémon he saw, meanwhile opening every single door and sneaking a peek inside. His plan was admittedly not very elegant, but it had been the best he could come up with.

He'd lost count of how many doors he'd opened and closed again when he saw the human he was looking for. Spinda had almost closed the door again out of pure habit when he'd seen the stringshotted figure.

Spinda toddled on in. His scuffing caught the attention of the human who turned to face him. Spinda smiled and gave the human a twirl for a greeting. They couldn't understand him if he spoke after all.

The human watched Spinda in complete silence. The visible eye was more alert now than it had been yesterday, but it still seemed sad. Carefully Spinda made his way over to the elevated box. Just like the day before it took a couple of tries, but Spinda made his way up in the end.

Spinda walked up to the human. They still hadn't taken their eye off him. Spinda sat down as he tried to think of something to would bring forth some smiles.

He thought back to some other sickly humans he'd visited in the past. While they had been smaller they did enjoy petting his fur. It might be a good place to start.

Pleased with his own idea Spinda stood up again. Spinda tilted his head towards the human. Nothing happened. Spinda looked up at the human again. Their face was blank, yet Spinda could see the dark eye still at him.

Maybe they didn't quite know what to do?

With that thought in mind Spinda carefully lifted the human's healthy hand and placed it on top of his head.

Still nothing happened.

Spinda was starting to feel even sorrier for the human than he already did. He picked up the human's hand once again lifted it up, then down again on his own head. Spinda repeated this a couple of times until the human's eye light up slightly. Spinda let go of the human's bony hand, pleased to know that it was petting him on its own. Admittedly it was more like a slow stroke than a pet, but Spinda was pleased nonetheless.

They sat there in complete silence as the human's fingers slowly and weakly ran across the fur on Spinda's head. Spinda looked up at the human. Their face was still blank. There wasn't even so much as a hint of a smile on their lips.

Spinda suppressed a sigh. This was a really sad human.

The door to the room opened once again and Wigglytuff, much to Spinda's dismay, came inside. Their eyes meet. Spinda tried to smile, but Wigglytuff's glare made it fade quickly.

Wigglytuff stomped over to the elevated box. They tapped their foot in annoyance. _"You're a persistent one, aren't you?"_ Wigglytuff's voice cut into the comfortable silence that had settled over the room only moments earlier.

Spinda didn't supress his sigh this time around. He turned to look at the human. They were regarding the interaction in between the two Pokémon in confused silence. Spinda gave the human a small wave. He had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

He'd been right, of course.

Spinda had been thrown out of the window again and his landing bush had helped him out once again. For a moment he simply lay there, staring up at the window he'd just been thrown out of.

He could see Wigglytuff staring back at him. Their expression different than from what Spinda had come to expect by know.

Wigglytuff looked troubled. Then they disappeared from view.

Spinda blinked up at the now empty space. What was with that Pokémon?

Spinda's ears twitched as he heard the sound of footsteps. He quickly got to his feet and waddling over to the entrance of the building. Spinda saw two humans. One was bigger than the other, but the small one held flowers in their hands.

Spinda watched silently as the two humans entered the building.

That was a brilliant idea! Why hadn't he thought of it sooner? Flowers were excellent gifts, after all.

It was with renewed optimism that Spinda walked towards the sick-humans-building the following day with lots and lots of tiny, yellow flowers in his paws. He'd risen early that morning to look all over the mountain for some he thought would be good enough. He'd finally settled for yellow because it was such a bright colour and bright colours were always fun, right?

He froze on the spot the moment he saw Wigglytuff outside.

They were quick to notice one another. Spinda briefly considered making a run for it, but quickly remembered his gift. He didn't want them to get ruined.

Wigglytuff walked over to him. For some reason they didn't look as angry as they had before.

_"What are those then?"_ they asked pointing to the flowers.

Spinda looked down on his gift then back up at Wigglytuff.

_"They're for the sad human."_ Spinda replied.

Wigglytuff's face was unreadable. Eventually they shook their head. _"Why did you visit that human?"_ they asked, _"he is not your trainer"_

Spinda tilted his head slightly. He thought that would be obvious. _"I got the impression that the human was lonely"_ Spinda said. _"So I will keep them company and make them smile!"_

Spinda was surprised to see Wigglytuff flinch at his response. Their opened their mouth as if to retort, but eventually closed it again. They mumbled something that Spinda couldn't hear.

Eventually Wigglytuff gave an exasperated sigh and stepped aside. _"Come along then,"_ they said, _"I'll take you there, but don't you dare excite him! He's fragile and needs rest."_

Deciding to not throw away this golden opportunity Spinda followed Wigglytuff quietly. As they walked Spinda noticed that some of the humans were staring. Most looked confused, but others smiled when they saw him. None of them looked surprised however.

Maybe he wasn't as sneaky as he thought?

Wigglytuff stopped in front of a door at the very end of the inside road. Spinda stopped as well as he readjusted his grip on the flowers. Wigllytuff turned towards him. Their expression was deadly serious.

_"The hospital has been in contact with that human’s friends"_ Wigglytuff began. Spinda swallowed hard. He was almost afraid of what was going to come next.

_"There have been some, complications, so to speak"_ Wigglytuff said. _"They haven't been able to show up yet so the human is on his own"_ Spinda tried his best not to give a sigh of relief. The way Wigglytuff was building it up one would think the human had been abandoned. From the sound of things everyone was trying their best to make sure that wasn’t the case.

Wigglytuff carried on. _"There is more however,"_ Wigglytuff's ears dropped a bit. _"The human's Pokémon."_

Spinda blinked. The human was a Pokémon trainer? If that was the case then where were his Pokémon?

Wigglytuff looked back at the door towering over the both of them. _"The last I heard they went up to the mountain."_ they said. _"They haven't returned yet, which leads us to the current predicament."_

Wigglytuff looked Spinda right in the eye.

_"I know it is rude of me, but can I ask you to please keep the human company? At least until someone else shows up?"_

Spinda heart skipped a beat. He could feel the big smile making its way across his face. Normally he would dance to show his happiness, but he didn't this time. The flowers could get ruined. Instead he nodded.

_"Of course!"_ He exclaimed only to be immediately hushed by Wigglytuff. He lowered his voice. _"I'm here to make others smile after all!"_

Wigglytuff rolled their eyes. _"You're an arrogant one, aren't you?"_ When Spinda just grinned in response they simply sighed and turned back towards the door. With a small shake of their head they pushed the door open.

The human was still on the elevated box, but this time he was sitting instead of lying down. He was looking out of the window. When Spinda carefully walked closer he turned his head around. The visible eye widened in surprise.

With Wigglytuff's help Spinda made his way on top of the elevated box. Once there Spinda turned and offered the human the flowers he had picked.

The human said nothing as he stared at the little bouquet. The yellow flowers were begging to droop a bit. A few of the tiny petals dropped down onto the soft white below.

Spinda stretched his arms out even further so the human would hopefully understand his intentions. Slowly, the human's mouth opened.

"Are those for me?"

The human's voice was raspy. Much like the noise a Feebas stuck on land would make. Yet it made Spinda glad. It was a much better sound than the one he'd heard only a couple of days ago.

Gingerly the human took the flowers out of Spinda's paws. He avoided the use of his stringshotted hand entirely. A few of the flowers fell out of the arrangement.

The human's eye rested at the bouquet. It had a tiny spark in it. The eye shot up from the flowers and landed on Spinda. The human looked like he wanted to say something, but his eye darkened again and he looked away.

Spinda's ears deflated a bit. He remembered what Wigglytuff had told him.

Speaking of Wigglytuff where were they? Spinda twirled around on the elevated box. He couldn't see the pink Pokémon anywhere.

Just as he turned around and looked at the human again he almost fell of the box in surprise.

Wigglytuff was using psychic to move the flowers into a clear thing with water.

Spinda only stared dumbfounded at the other Pokémon. How had they managed to avoid his top-notch surveillance skills?

Wigglytuff sighed before heading towards the door. Their eyes rested on Spinda briefly then they left.

The room fell quiet, not that it had been too nosy to begin with.

Spinda plopped down. The human was looking out of the window again. Following his gaze Spinda saw the mountains. Perhaps the human liked them?

Looking like a bloated Seviper Spinda crawled his way over to the human. He settled down right next to the human’s waist. He was surprised how tiny the human really was. He needed to eat more berries no doubt.

His eyes darted around the room, looking for anything that he could use. He'd already tried dancing and even his flower gift fell short. He needed a plan. A really good plan.

On another elevated box, the same one that now hosted the tiny flowers, were four Pokéballs. Spinda looked at them, then up at the human, then back to the Pokéballs again.

The human must be lonely without his Pokémon, Spinda was certain of that. Wigglytuff had said that the last time they heard anything from them was that they were up at the mountain somewhere.

Up at the mountain somewhere.

Spinda gasped loudly as the realisation hit him. He quickly turned to look at the human again and surely enough they were still looking up at the mountain.

Of course he was!

Spinda clapped his paws together. Now he understood! That had been the problem all along! Spinda poked at the human's healthy arm until he noticed and gave Spinda his attention. Spinda frantically pointed to the Pokéballs.

_"Tell me about them!"_ Spinda said, hoping, nay praying, that the human would understand. The human looked over at the Pokéballs then back over at Spinda.

Spinda began miming, trying his very best to show the human that he wanted to know what kind of Pokémon he had. He knew that he wasn't supposed to excite the human, but this was important!

"You want to hear about my Pokémon?"

Spinda nodded with arguably too much force. He got a bit dizzy.

The human closed his eye. After some hesitation he spoke.

"I have four Pokémon," the human began. Spinda stood straight. His ears were perked right up.

"First is Weezing. He's a prankster. Quite a troublesome one too."

Spinda nodded fiercely to show he understood.

"Second is Mightyena. He's about as smart as stale bread. Would follow a fool right off a cliff."

Sounded like a Pokémon that would just follow where the others went.

"Third is Crobat. He's the only smart one."

Might be the easiest one to find then.

"Lastly is Camerupt, he's.."

Spinda watched as the human's voice faltered. He took his healthy hand and placed it gently on the part of his face that was stringshotted. His expression softened.

"Camerupt is a sweetheart." the human said softly. Spinda looked up at the mountain again. Now he knew what to look for.

Spinda crossed his arms as he thought. There was a slight problem.

He couldn't leave the human all alone.

The human was unhappy that he was alone, no doubt about that. If Spinda left to look for his Pokémon now then there wouldn't be anyone here to keep the human company. While Wigglytuff existed they seemed like a busy Pokémon.

The human rested his healthy hand on top of Spinda's head. Spinda gave the human a smile, but he was worried.

If he could find the missing Pokémon then the human would be happy again, but he'd promised to stay by the human's side until someone else could show up. He watched as the human’s visible eye slowly began to close as the human fell asleep.

He hoped that someone could show up soon.

Spinda sighed. He was feeling pretty tired too. The sun was beginning to set and the white room was beginning to look a lot more orange. Looking for Pokémon at night may very well be hopeless. He didn't really know how to use moves like Flash.

The door slowly creaked open. Spinda snapped out of his thoughts.

It was another human, a giant one in comparison to the one on the elevated box. Their eyes looked around the room carefully until they landed on the sleeping human. Without a sound the much larger human entered the room.

Spinda almost held his breath as the human came closer and close to their box. He wasn't even certain that the giant had noticed him at all.

The giant stood above them. Now that he was up close Spinda noticed that their face was flushed and they were panting slightly. They looked like they'd been in a hurry. Gently the giant reached out and put his hand on the healthy part of the sleeping human's face. They chuckled, but their words didn't sound happy.

"Oh Maxie," they said, "what on earth did you get yourself into?"

The sick human sighed in his sleep. Spinda looked back and forth between the two humans. The giant removed their hand and began looking around the room. They then walked over to the corner and grabbed another one of the strange boxes. This place had quite a few of those.

The giant placed the strange box next to the elevated box and sat down. They gave a heavy sigh. "Y'know Max," they began, "you could use some better luck. How many problems have you gotten yourself into by complete accident? It's starting to get silly."

The giant scratched the back of their neck. Spinda slowly walked over to them. They smelled a bit fishy.

It wasn't until now the giant noticed Spinda. They grinned at him. "Who are you then?" they asked, "Have you been keeping Max company?" Spinda turned towards the sleeping human. If he was the one called "Max" then yes.

Spinda looked out the window, ignoring the fact that the giant was petting him. The sun still hadn't set yet.

Hang on.

Spinda looked up at the giant. They were in this room. The same room as the sleeping human. They were sitting down, implying that they weren't going anywhere for quite some time.

Was this one of the human's friends?

Wigglytuff entered the room alongside a human as Spinda jumped down from the elevated box. He quickly turned towards the other Pokémon.

_"Is this one of the human's friends?"_ he asked as quickly as he could. Wigglytuff walked over to the elevated box. They actually had a smile on their face. _"It is-"_ Spinda didn't need Wigglytuff to say anything else. There was still a little bit of sunlight left. He still had time. Spinda ran over to the window and climbed up to it. Almost every living being in the room were staring at him, completely dumbfounded. With a determined expression and a salute Spinda leapt out of the window.

He had Pokémon to find.

Spinda tripped as he ran up the mountain, but he was quick to get his bearings to keep on going. He had to use the best of the little sunlight that was left. As he ran he thought about the Pokémon he was looking for.

Most of them were pretty common in the mountains. Spinda had seen Crobat many times during the night. Weezing liked the caves. While he hadn't seen a Camerupt with his own eyes here he had seen plenty of Numel.

Mightyena was the odd one out. It was probably the best Pokémon to start looking for.

Spinda squinted his eyes as he searched for black fur. The human said that the Mightyena was not very smart. He wasn't quite sure how helpful that would be in his search, but it was something.

The very last rays of the sun began to fade. This night, however, saw fit to have the full moon in the sky. Spinda sighed in relief. He would still have a little bit of light.

Spinda slowed down. Where exactly does one start looking for wayward Pokémon? He knew the mountain fairly well, but not well enough.

Suddenly a Golbat shot out from one of the many trees and flew by Spinda. Thinking quickly Spinda grabbed onto one of its legs. They didn't seem to notice their passenger right away. At least they didn't until Spinda called out.

_"Good evening!"_ Spinda shouted as he dangled in the air. The Golbat lost quite a bit of height in shock. _"Who are you!?"_ they shrieked _"and why are you holding on to me like that!?"_

Spinda tried to smile, but the wind pushing at his face made it unnecessarily hard to do so. _"My name is Spinda!"_ Spinda shouted, _"and I'm looking for some Pokémon that don't belong on the mountain!"_

Golbat started kicking Spinda in an attempt to shake him off. _"Well, I couldn't care less!"_ they hissed. Golbat started flying higher and faster, changing directions sharply and quite often. Spinda couldn't hold onto Golbat's leg. With one final, sudden turn Spinda's grip slipped and he was sent flying down below.

Spinda screamed as he flailed about in the air. He was going to crash into the ground below at this rate! He tried to look around himself for anything to grab onto. From the looks of things Golbat had taken him to a part of the mountain that lacked any sort of vegetation.

That wasn't good.

Spina squeezed his eyes shut as he prepared himself for the uncomfortable landing.

It never came.

Slowly Spinda opened his eyes again only to find himself suspended above ground.

_"Are you all right?"_

Spinda blinked, then he realised something.

A Pokémon was holding him.

He turned his head around and gasped in surprise.

It was a Crobat. A strong one too from the looks of things.

The Crobat was looking at him with concern. Oh, that's right. Spinda hadn't answered their question yet!

Spinda clapped his paws together in delight. _"I'm safe and sound,"_ he said, _"and it's all thanks to you!"_

The Crobat gave a sigh of relief as they slowly began descending towards solid ground. _"I'm glad,"_ they said, _"Your screams gave me quite the fright!"_

Once Crobat landed Spinda gave them a bow. Crobat just coughed with embarrassment and looked the other way. Spinda tilted his head.

Maybe this Crobat knew about the Pokémon he was looking for?

Spinda grabbed hold of one of Crobat's wings. _"Excuse me, but can I ask you a question?"_ he asked. Crobat looked slightly confused, but they nodded. Spinda pointed towards the direction he thought the sick-human-building was. _"Have you seen some strange Pokémon around here?"_ Spinda began, _"There is a sick human over there missing his friends, you see!"_

Crobat frowned as they looked towards the direction Spinda was pointing. _"What sort of Pokémon are you looking for?"_ They asked. Spinda repeated what the human had told him, word for word.

Just as he was about to explain how the Crobat he was looking was the only smart of the lot his saviour stopped him. They had a look of horror on their face.

_"Tell me,"_ their voice was so low that it could barely be considered a whisper, _"what was the human's name?"_

Spinda crossed his arms. Had the giant he saw earlier had called the human by his name? It was with hesitation that he spoke. _"There was a giant there,"_ Spinda mumbled, _"They called the sick human 'Max', but I also heard the word 'Maxie'."_

Just as Spinda uttered the word "Maxie" Crobat gasped out loud. _"Did you say 'Maxie'?! Are you certain it was the name 'Maxie'!?"_ Spinda hesitated. Eventually he said; _"It's the most likely."_

Crobat whimpered as they used their wings to hide their face. _"This was a bad idea."_ They said. _"I knew that this was a bad idea from the very start!"_ Spinda was confused. What was wrong all of a sudden?

Spinda walked over to Crobat and gave them a few pats on the back. Crobat looked up at him. Their expression changed from horrified to determined in a heartbeat. They grabbed hold of Spinda. _"I need you to come with me!"_ They said as they took to the air. _"You have to tell the others what you saw!"_

Spinda clung onto Crobat as tight as he possibly could. He tried to look around himself, but gave up when he couldn't recognise anything. Just as he was about to ask Crobat why the sudden need to rush, Crobat was lowering them towards the ground.

Down there Spinda could see three other Pokémon. A Camerupt was looking intently at the mountainside while a Weezing and Mightyena looked on. The onlookers turned towards Crobat and Spinda as they landed.

Spinda waved, but Crobat did nothing of the sort. They flew right up to Camerupt. _"I told you!"_ they said accusingly, _"I told you this was a bad idea!"_ Camerupt looked down at Crobat, then back at Spinda, but they didn't say anything.

Mightyena rushed up to Crobat. _"What was a bad idea!?"_ they asked frantically, _"Is Maxie all right!? Is he!? Is he!?"_ Crobat flew up and landed on Camerupt's back. They pointed towards Spinda. _"He says that Maxie is sad and lonely."_ Crobat explained. Just as they did so Mightyena covered their eyes with their paws and whimpered.

_"That's not good!" They said, "We gotta go back to Maxie and give him hugs and kisses and-"_

Weezing lowered themselves towards the group as Mightyena babbled on in the background. They titled their being as they looked at Spinda. _"How do you know about Maxie?"_ they asked. Spinda waddled over to them. After a brief explanation Weezing turned towards Camerupt. They were still looking intently at the mountainside.

Spinda looked at the mountainside as well. What was so interesting about it?

Suddenly Camerupt spoke.

_"You."_

Spinda looked around himself and, realising that Camerupt was probably addressing him, pointed to himself.

Camerupt nodded.

Spinda shuddered slightly, but he gave Camerupt a bright smile nonetheless. _"What is it?"_ he asked, _"what can I help you with?"_

Camerupt turned their head slowly towards the mountain again. With slow steps they squashed right up to the mountainside. With their muzzle they hit the ground. Spinda squinted his eyes as he tried to see what had caught Camerupt's attention. He stepped a bit closer. Once he did he could see a tiny hole. Just barely big enough for him to squeeze through.

_"I need the berries in this cavern."_ Camerupt said. They looked like they wanted to say something else, but didn't. They stepped away from the mountainside.

Spinda walked up to the hole. _"If I get the berries will you go back to the sick human?"_ he asked. Camerupt nodded. Spinda clapped his paws together. There was nothing else for him to do then!

With a grunt Spinda pushed himself into the tiny hole. It was incredibly dark, but no matter. Slowly he slithered forward. The little tunnel opened up more and more until Spinda could see a little bit of moonlight shining through. With one last huff Spinda pushed through and landed right in front of a berry bush.

Spinda got to his feet and brushed himself off. Mud stuck to his fur everywhere, but he did manage to get some of it off. Once he was pleased with his clean up job he pulled off some of the berries and got ready to turn back. Thought he had to admit that he was curious.

How come Rawst berries were so important to Camerupt now that their trainer was sick?

He rolled the berry forward as he made his way back to the others, careful not to accidentally squash it. Progress was slow. Spinda huffed as he crawled forward. Soon, he told himself. Soon they could all go back to the sick human.

Giving the berry one last push Spinda saw it rolling until it collided with Camerupt's hooves. Spinda picked up his pace and dragged himself out of that hopelessly dark place.

Once he was out all the other Pokémon had gathered around Camerupt, who had picked up the Rawst berry by its leaves. All four Pokémon turned towards him. Crobat gave him a bow. _"Thank you,"_ they said, _"We can now go back to Maxie."_

With that an awkward silence fell. Spinda turned his head in all directions as he looked around. Where had he come from again...? More importantly, how was he going to lead everyone back?

_"Where have all of you been!?"_

Spinda shrunk in on himself as Wigglytuff scolded all five of them. Spinda could understand getting told off since he'd taken way too long to find the sick human's friends, but why were they getting told off?

Wigglytuff rattled on.

_"Do the four of you realise how dumb you've been?"_ they spat. _"How do you think your human felt being all alone in an unfamiliar place!?"_

No one said anything. A few humans walked by. Some gave them funny looks. Spinda couldn't blame them. It must be strange to see five muddy Pokémon all getting yelled at by a Wigglytuff. Especially since they couldn't understand what was being said.

Mightyena raised their head. They sniffed the air, now seemingly oblivious to Wigglytuff's scolding. Their ears perked up and they started to wag their tail. They looked over at their friends.

_"I can smell Maxie!"_

Spinda watched as all the Pokémon gathered around the excited pup. Wordlessly Camerupt pushed their muzzle against Mightyena. Ever since they got that Rawst berry Camerupt had held onto it so tightly they didn't even speak. Spinda had a hard time understanding the Pokémon. This time, however, it was clear to even him what Camerupt wanted.

Before Wigglytuff could protest Mightyena dashed off. Crobat wasn't too far behind. Weezing was slower, but had a respectable pace. Spinda ran after them and past Camerupt, who was the slowest by far.

By the time Spinda made it to the cold lonely room Mightyena was already on that elevated box. The white sheets had become dirty, but no one seemed to mind. Mightyena's tail was wagging furiously as the dark type tried to get closer to the sick human's face. The giant held them back, but there was a smile on their face.

"Oi, Mightyena," They said clearly amused, "You can't get all that dirt all over Maxie; that be bad for everyone."

Spinda entered the room and saw that Crobat had perched themselves on the second elevated box, the one that had all the flowers Spinda had gifted the human earlier. Weezing was hovering around the bleeping boxes.

The sounds of heavy hooves coming closer made everyone fall silent. Even Mightyena stopped struggling with the giant.

Camerupt tried to enter the room, but was seemingly too big to do so. They stomped their hooves in frustration as they tried to enter. Slowly Spinda walked up to them.

Completely unprompted, Camerupt let go of the Rawst berry in their mouth. Their eyes rested on Spinda. Spinda picked the berry up.

_"Please give that to him."_ Camerupt said. Spinda swallowed and nodded.

Carefully Spinda walked over to the sick human and offered the berry to him. The human's good eye landed on the offering. It then grew wide.

Spinda almost fell back in surprise when the human suddenly threw back the covers and stepped off the elevated box. He fell to his knees almost instantly. Spinda could now see that his left leg was also stringshotted.

"Maxie, what the hell are ya doing!?"

The giant let go of Mightyena and was by the sick human's side in an instant. The sick human used his healthy hand to grab onto the giant for support.

He looked at Camerupt, who was looking down as if ashamed.

"You silly creature," the human said, "you, silly, silly creature!"

His expression softened. "You didn't have to do this," he said, "This wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault."

Camerupt looked up from the floor.

The sick human gave his Pokémon a smile. "I'm just happy that you're all right."

The room had fallen completely silent. Camerupt was looking at their trainer with sparkling eyes. Spinda eyes were sparkling as well. He did a happy twirl while clapping his paws.

The human smiled! The human really and truly smiled!

"I wonder why the little fella was partying so hard."

Maxie looked up from the exhausted Spinda in his arms to Archie. Things had calmed down considerably since the commotion earlier that day. While Maxie had been glad to see his Pokémon again it had tired him out.

Maxie sighed through his nose. "I don't know." he admitted. "The little creature has been quite full of energy the entire time it's been here." He didn't understand the strange Pokémon. Normally Maxie would've considered the actions it took a nuisance, but this time around he was glad to have the company.

Archie chuckled. "I'm glad," he said. Maxie raised an eyebrow. Archie poked at the Spinda. "Little guy could be here when no one else could." The air tensed slightly.

"I'm sorry about that, Maxie. I really am."

Maxie leaned back into his hospital bed. "Its fine Archie, and don't you look at me like that, it really is." He closed his working eye. "It's not like you have the power to teleport."

He heard Archie shift about on the chair he was sitting on. "I know that," he grumbled. "I still feel like I could've done more."

"Aren't you doing 'more' right now, though?"

Maxie opened his eye again. Archie was looking at him quite intently. Eventually he sighed. "I suppose that's true." he mumbled. Maxie did his best to keep himself from smirking. He always did like it when he could convince Archie with the cold, objective facts of a situation. Unlike him, Archie preferred to look at things with a more emotional lens. That could make him rather unreasonable at times.

Archie leaned back into the chair. Maxie turned his attention back to the Spinda. Any moment now and Archie was going to find some sort of comeback that would put them even again. It was how they functioned.

Archie opened his mouth.

Maxie braced himself.

"So ya gonna catch that Spinda or what?"

There it was.

Using his healthy hand Maxie pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why on earth would I do that?" he asked. Archie shrugged. "Is there a good reason not to?"

Maxie pressed his lips together. There weren't all that many reasons to catch the thing, but there weren't too many reasons NOT to catch it either.

He huffed as Archie grinned at him. He’d presented a problem to Maxie that he couldn’t solve with hard numbers or science.

How frustrating.

"Back to base then?"

Spinda looked up at the giant. Both they and the once-sickly-human were standing outside of the sick people building. Ready to go home.

The smaller of the two sighed. "Yes, though I cannot say I'm looking forward to be run down by my admins." The giant just laughed and petted their friends back.

Spinda couldn’t help, but feel somewhat sad at the sight. He liked the once-sick-human. Maxie was it? He didn't really want to say goodbye.

Much to Spinda surprise Maxie turned towards him. The giant stepped away and pulled out a doohickey. Maxie opened his mouth then closed it again. He looked awkwardly at the bright blue sky.

"I suppose I should thank you," he said eventually, "for keeping me company."

Spinda twirled around on the spot. He was just happy that Maxie was feeling better.

Maxie looked away from Spinda, then over at the giant. Their eyes met and the giant started doing an odd motion with their hand as they talked into the doohickey.

Maxie looked embarrassed as he turned back to Spinda with a cough. With some hesitation he pulled out a Pokéball.

"You can with us if you want." he said. His cheeks were a deep red. "I wouldn’t mind."

Spinda looked up at the Pokéball.

Spinda had always been a wanderer, going from place to place on his journey he believed had no destination.

With a delighted squeal Spinda jumped and touched the Pokéball.

His journey had just not only presented him with a destination, but also a new start.

For the end of one journey is always the start of another, no?


End file.
